


Archiving a Vessel

by Doots



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 06:19:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16191815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doots/pseuds/Doots
Summary: The Hollow Knight is forever recorded into Hallownest’s history and Quirrel gains a chance to meet the god of Hallownest.





	Archiving a Vessel

Beneath the crawling moss and winding passages of the kingdom’s vast caverns, nestled comfortably in the bubbling tunnels of Fog Canyon was the Teacher’s Archives. It was to here Quirrel was headed, swiftly skipping over the volatile cores within their fragile casing and leaping past the violently charged, yet placid Uomas. Tucked safely under one of his arms was a scroll splitting with detailed notes, his other ready to draw his nail at a moment’s notice.

Bursting into the cavern in which the Teacher’s abode resided, he quickly entered the walkway leading to the archives; suspended over a lagoon of malicious acid. Nimbly weaving through the complex corridors, past the artificial and gelatinous sentries as well as haphazardly placed pools of corrosive liquid. As usual, when Quirrel found Monomon, she was so thoroughly engrossed in her research she had barely noticed her student’s presence. She mumbled a distracted welcome,

“Hmm, welcome back Quirrel...”

She had not taken her eyes off the tank of charged lumaflies she was observing, pondering as they fluttered about in their protective huddles, then rhythmically gathered a collective charge and created a sparking bolt. Separating, condensing; separating, condensing, like the wax and wane of the moon, seemingly oblivious to danger, yet repelling it all the same.

She muttered as she fiddled with the valves on an acid container, summoning words into the tank as though they were wayward souls. The notes read:

 

Do not respond to danger, but simply spark at regular intervals. More information required.

 

Quirrel was used to her strange behaviour, so he took no heed of it. He presumed it was not out of disinterest in him, but out of interest in her elaborate experiments, research and documentation.

With a contended sigh, he seated himself upon an intricately engraved shell wood chair, and rested his Gear and collected research against a similar iteration of furniture. He usually enjoyed sitting within the archive’s many rooms, watching whatever strange experiment Monomon was up to, however, he felt as though something were wrong, as though he was supposed to do something...

Quirrel straightened up in realisation and questioned Monomon,

”Madam, did you not say we would be expecting an important visit today?”

Snapped out of her trance of observation, she replied,

”Hmm? Oh, yes, we are. Lest you had reminded me, we may have been woefully underprepared for a visit from royalty.”

Taken aback by his mentor’s nonplussed mention of a potential visit from the Pale Wyrm himself, he began following her as she calmly drifted to one of the archive’s many other rooms. He incquired,

”Oh? To what do we owe the pleasure?”

”I have told you of the experiments I assisted the King with, yes? Well, I do believe he requested me to aid him in creating a being truly hollow,” She paused as they entered the desired room. “After many tries, he finally succeeded in creating an organism with no mind to think, no will to break and no voice to cry suffering. Now, I believe he wants me to compile a document on this ‘vessel’, a record of its accomplishments and its species, now that it has seemingly reached its peak growth.”

She had begun to assemble a form of research station, the size of which was greatly intimidating to Quirrel, who had imagined the immense scale of this ‘vessel’, foreseeing it to be almost as tall as the Teacher herself. Monomon had politely asked Quirrel to wait outside to greet the king, as such he was now vigilantly waiting near the entrance to the archives, resting his nail within the soft dirt.

Despite the perceived mundaneness of Quirrel’s task, he could not find himself bored when he observed the serenity of the world around him. The elegant, pink-hued bubbles drifting around the spacious cavern, the sizzling lake behind him and the distant sound of the Oomas wading through the air.

Soon though, he had begun to hear the approaching sound of metal-capped footsteps, synchronised and orderly. Tilting his head to the cavern’s entrance to his top-left, waiting in anticipation to finally see the ruler of Hallownest in person, intrigued by the thought of meeting the reclusive king.

The Pale King’s entrance was almost overwhelming, his aura of astounding brightness permeating the previous dimness of the cave. Quirrel felt almost blessed to be greeted with this demonstration of the Pale King’s splendour. The King was flanked on either side by his stoic retainers, and peering behind the King’s halo of soul, he could make out the figure of this fated ‘vessel’,  bowing low to fit their massive figure through the tunnel.

The King looked down at the drop between him and the archive’s level, before he seemed to glide off the ledge. As he descended, he began to decelerate as he left a wake of diving feathers, originating from his cloak until he touched down on the floor gracefully. The moulder warriors and the empty behemoth followed loyally after.

The Pale Wyrm himself began approaching Quirrel, remaining calm, he reverently addressed the King,

”Welcome, your Emanence. Madam Monomon has awaited your arrival.”

He replied simply,

”Greetings, student of Monomon, your hospitality is appreciated. I must take my leave soon, though I leave my...” he paused, deep in thought.

“ Creation, with you. Upon the completion of my request, I shall return to retrieve them.”

Seemingly unbidden, the King’s shifted apart, as did the King, to allow passage of the vessel. Quirrel respectfully greeted them, 

“Welcome, great vessel. May I incquire your name?”

The vessel did not speak, but gazed rigidly at Quirrel. The Pale King answered for him,

”My creation has no voice, but you may refer to them as, the Hollow Knight.”

The Pale King began to take his leave, but not before gifting Quirrel a record of the Hollow Knight’s climb to maturity, to use in  their documentation. Before exiting, he and the vessel shared one, deep stare. One’s filled with the shining gleam of soul, the other absent of everything. With that, the Pale King’s procession left.

Leading the Hollow Knight inside, Quirrel could barely contain his feelings of awe and reverence of the Pale King, his every expectation of his rumoured glory exceeded. His power, his presence, his regality, each woefully misrepresented by simple idols. Aside from that, he noted the King’s thoughtfulness in his words, seemingly challenged in his attempts to communicate with him, and his stare with the Knight, though seemingly as empty as the vessel themself, may have had more meaning in it than he could comprehend.

His musings aside, Quirrel lead the Hollow Knight to the research station Monomon had set up, and the Teacher began her usual ritual of deep studying, Quirrel dutifully noting down her mumbles in case she were to forget her findings. The Hollow Knight was truly a strange being, its head’s shell normal (though exceptionally tough), but inside a writhing mass of a pure black substance, its ever changing nature rendering it indescribable: Rising like gas, flowing like water, bubbling like acid and grasping like a vine. The rest of its carapace seemed to be made of a hard version of this so called ‘void’, supposedly its integrity was dependant on its main shell’s.

Quirrel had shown Monomon the tablet he had acquired through the Pale King, and she had begun to summarise it. The notes were as follows: 

 

The egg of a vessel is created through the intercourse between two higher beings, in this case, the Pale King and the White Lady. Within 2 to 4 weeks these eggs are laid. Though these normally would not be able to produce functioning organisms due to the White Lady’s reproductive issues, if these eggs are placed within a ‘Void Egg’ incubator, they will produce a functioning vessel. These ‘Void Eggs’ must be placed within the abyss, where they draw in surrounding soul in the air, essential to creating a vessel.

Vessels do not have grub forms, but instead have nymph forms. These are approximately the size of a child, and are decievingly powerful for their size. A vessel’s ‘cloak’ is a part of them and grows with the too. Vessels will go through five ‘instars’, or phases until they reach adulthood. Each time, they shed a layer of shell and void, the new layer will be much tougher, their horns and cloak will lengthen and their strength only further increases.

Vessel’s have a natural affinity for magic, most likely due to their soul-related parentage, and can utilise soul in many ways, the most common of which is repairing their damaged shell. Upon reaching maturity, vessels also gain more abilities relating to control of void, being able to manipulate it to be able to teleport, or when they have sustained significant damage, use it to lash out in writhing whips.

 

Soon, their documentation was complete and the Pale King had returned to collect his creation. With one last look between each other, the Pale King and the Hollow Knight departed, leaving Quirrel to ponder the nature of these higher beings.


End file.
